1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to dentures, and more particularly to a simplified method and apparatus for fabricating and fitting dentures.
2. Description of the Background Art
Using conventional methods and devices for fabricating and fitting dentures, the dentist first takes an impression of the patient's dental arches. These impressions are then sent to the dental laboratory where the stone models of the patient's dental ridge are made.
At the laboratory, a dental technician then builds wax base plates on the stone dental ridges and mounts a wax biteblock on the base plates. These base plates are made by molding one or two layers of wax to conform to the stone model of the dental ridge. The biteblock is a spacer made of wax, shaped to conform to the curvature of the dental ridge, that establishes the space previously occupied by natural teeth.
The stone models and biteblocks are then returned to the dentist who registers the bite, which entails establishing the vertical, horizontal and depth plane of the upper dental ridge to the lower dental ridge by adjusting the upper and lower bite blocks accordingly. The dentist then selects a shade for the denture teeth and returns the biteblocks and stone models to the dental technician to be mounted on an articulator.
Back at the laboratory, the dental technician next selects the size of denture teeth according to the dimension of the dental stone models. Before the technician can start setting up the denture teeth, he must grind off the glaze of the truncated root portion of each denture tooth, so that there will be a bond between the teeth and the denture base material. After the teeth are set in position, wax is added to the base plate to form or simulate the gum tissue around each tooth. The dental setup is then returned to the dentist for a try-in in the patient's mouth.
The dentist then examines the dental setup in the patient's mouth. Once that procedure is complete, the dentist returns the setup to the laboratory technician for processing and polishing into a finished denture, and once again, it is sent back to the dentist for delivery to the patient. This multi-step process is time consuming and cumbersome, and requires several iterations between the dentist and the dental laboratory. Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus that will eliminate many of these steps, reduce the amount of time required for fabrication and fitting the dentures, and provide an easy and simple way for the dentist to complete the fabrication and fitting of dentures. The present invention satisfies those needs, as well as others, and overcomes the deficiencies inherent in conventional methods and devices for fabricating and fitting dentures.